How About Some Pics?!

Sorry, I havent been posting many pictures lately. I have fallen so behind because nap times have been consumed with working on the new house. But here are some! The boys are now 16 months, time flies when you are having fun!

Nashville Flood

Count your blessing blog readers. The greater part of Nashville is totally under water. It is a terrible, terrible sight. I can not believe this is hapenning in our city. We received 18 inches of water in a day and half. 11 confirmed deaths, 2 college age boys are still missing after deciding to intertube a flooded creek. We have friends that have lost everything from cars to their entire homes. And the majority of Nashvillians do not have flood insurance because they were not in a flood zone. So they have literally lost everything. Say prayers for the families whose immediate future is in question. We are very fortunate our subdivision is new and provisions for flooding were in place. The home we just moved from I am being told had water up to the front door, all of the homes across the street were flooded chest high. Be thankful for life and family...because 'things' can we washed away in minutes.

Before I was a Mom

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

~Author Unknown

Laughter

Our home is filled with a lot of laughs these days. The boys have all kinds of laughs, but I think the cutest is the laugh I hear when they are laughing at one another. But there are mischevious laughs, surprised laughs, belly laughs, laughing so hard the laugh is silent laugh and I just love them all. Even better, the boys have totally different laughs so from another room you can hear each distinctive personality. Probably two of my favorite things, laughter and sunshine!! Both are good for the soul. A laugh with our spouse or our best friends, dont they just feel good?

This reminds of a very special moment in my life. My grandmother suffered from Alzeimers before her passing. The last time I saw her was at Thanksgiving nearly 10 years ago. We were sitting on a couch side by side. I dont remember what it was, but I burst out in laughter. A good, loud, eyes tearing kinda laugh. My grandmother touched my arm and said, "your laughter reminds me of someone." I said, "who is that?" She responded in a sweet, child-like voice, "my granddaughter Courtney." An ugly disease had stollen her ability to remember my face, but in that moment she remembered my soul. And well, that just meant the world.

What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul. ~Yiddish Proverb

Scariest day.of.my.life

I had taken the boys to music class at Davis Kidd, and had parked in the Macy's garage because it looked like it was going to rain. After music, the boys ate lunch, I shopped a bit, and then headed for the parking lot. I was having a bit of a trouble getting the stroller out of the double doors, and noticed two African American females leave out of the double doors to my left. And there was about 20-30 seconds between them, they were not walking together. Just as I got the stroller out of the second set of double doors a very large security man (didnt realize this at the time) came running out and grabbed the second girl. He grabbed her bags and held them in the air, it was now clear she was being caught for shoplifting. The first female had gotten away, at the time I thought she had just ran off. The female that was caught was putting up quite the fight and I just froze. I stood there for a few more seconds and thought I better continue on to my car. I was about 4 or 5 steps away from the doors when I heard a car come barrelling down in the garage. The security guard attempted to stop the car by jumping in front of it. Im not sure why he did that because she was driving so fast. When he jumped, the female driver swerved to miss him and came within 1 foot of hitting the boys. I write that sentence with many tears in my eyes. I pulled the boys back and my knees just collapsed. I was shaking so bad. An older woman helped me get the boys back into the store and I screamed that the security officer needed help, he was still outside trying to gain control of the second female. Security was everywhere and acted quickly, and I was able to get her tags as she sped out of the garage. My hope is she was caught.

It is truly amazing how something terrible can happen in a blink of eye. Thank you God for giving me 1 foot between her front left wheel and my precious babies.

At Second Glance

The boys are becoming less fond of veggies, and that is putting it lightly! So you can imagine how pleased I was last night when at least one child finished his peas. Kellen left every single pea on his plate, but Paxton had only a few...and I declared that a victory!! Until I took him out for his bath and realized he was very neatly stacking the peas to his right. UGH!!! I give up, not really but you know what I mean!!! We have been trying very hard to stop food from being thrown off the trays, so how I could be mad at this sneaky (yet neat) trick my little trouble-maker toddler developed?? I didnt, I laughed so hard, took a picture, and left it for the morning to clean up!

Easter Week

If you could see through this computer you would see me jumping for joy that winter is officially over. We had a solid week of beautiful weather, and loved every second of it. The boys' Nana came into town on Sunday, and I ran errands all day Monday. Which is probably one of my favorite things to do! I also picked wallpaper for a half bathroom and a grasscloth for our study. Maybe I will post pictures when we have it installed, but no mean comments about it being ugly!!!!! Tuesday, my mother and I took the boys shopping at Opry Mills (an outlet mall), and ate at Rainforest Cafe. The boys loved the restaurant, all the animals go off every 15 minutes...it was really funny. And they loaded up on some new summer clothes...thanks Nana. Wednesday, we spent all day at the Nashville Zoo with Scarlett and Ethan, Kelly and her adorable b/g twins Hutch and Anniston. They were born a day before the boys, so it was a real treat to meet her! Thursday, we played with Catherine and Cain and went to Phillips Toy Mart to see the bunnies. Phillips is an old toy store in Nashville, it is legit...and it is lovely to buy toys from a family owned business. The boys, however, could have cared less about the bunnies, but they LOVED the train set. They pushed all of the buttons, making the railroad crossings come down. I think one of those sets are in our future!! And today, we took a long walk in the BOB and the boys ran all over the place. I am pooped, but still jumping for joy!!!

Just finished having lunch at the zoo. Sunscreen and sweat doing funny things to my Pax's hair!!

Loving the train set!! Here it comes!
"Mama, can I press the button?"
"Mama, I will press the button without asking first!" Gotta love how different these kids are!
The real life Easter bunnies!

And these are two faces that could care less!


Have a wonderful Easter and Passover, everyone! We have a big day of events planned for Easter and then are heading to Atlanta on Sunday. We have tickets to the Masters in Augusta. This will be Tiger's first tournament back...ladies, what should I yell at him in his backswing?!!!!

Sneak Peek

Ummm, now that is Cute with a capital C. Thanks Brandi, cant wait to see the rest!!

Color Me Happy...

...Springtime has ARRIVED. We have been so busy. As I mentioned before we have been moving. We are finally in the new house, not settled but we are in. More on that later. I will be updating more frequently now too, I have been drowning in boxes. We have been enjoying the outdoors. Here are a few pics that include an afternoon spent eating whole strawberries...which caused an awful mess but was pure sweetness!!!

Playing with Laura's (neighbor) Golden Retriever

The boys held hands for 30 minutes on a trip to Alabama to see our cousins. So SWEET!
The best big cousin to the boys ever, Jo.
Ate our first popsicle! Grape for Kellen, Banana for Paxton.

And the boys fed ducks, with lots of help from Wendi and Jo, at Guntersville Lake
Strawberries for Dessert, Please!

CRIME: Enjoying a whole strawberry VERDICT:GUILTY!!!!!

A Sleeping Baby...

Our sweet Kellen, sleeping peacefully.

And our prankster Paxton trying everything to wake him up!!! He just can't help himself. A description of this picture: My cell phone is in his hand, he had just finished banging the phone against Kel's crib and was fleeing the scene in laughter. Oh, they crack us up!!

And yes, Kellen did wake up!!

Toes

I

just

love

my

babies'

toes.

Then & Now

One year ago...

And now...


We have come so far...

"What's that" you ask?

That is my sweet brown eyed Kellen drinking out of a sippy cup! It is official...WE ARE OFF BOTTLES!!! And yes, the twins are 14 mths old but for whatever reason they were not ready to give the bottle up at 1 year. I decided to not force the issue, which for those of you know me KNOW that goes against my grain!! But I am glad that I waited. Yesterday, I just offered the cup instead of the bottle and not one tear was shed. Can I get a HIP HIP HOORAY!!!! And Pax is off the bottle too...I just dont have photographic evidence yet!!

Surviving the Cold

Well I am sure everyone is in agreement...winter needs to end. I am so OVER being cold, not even cold...FREEZING. We have been busy. We closed on a new house! We are very excited, but I am not looking forward to the move. Packing with toddlers is not going well! But we have the whole month of March to move, so I cant complain too much. I will post some pics of the new digs when it warms up and I can stand outside long enough to take a picture!!!!

We got a special treat a couple weeks ago when my best friend was in town from Boston on business. She got to hang out with the kiddos. She said she was exhausted just being with them for a hour!! I hear ya sista!!! The boys were in awe of Steph's blackberry, cell phone, and work papers...we couldnt get them to look up! Maybe next time!


I ventured with the kiddos to Atlanta last week to see my grandmother, aunt, cousin and her two kids. We had a blast. And Laura's kids are gorgeous. The newest addition to the family is 9 mth old Carrington...what a beauty!!
Paxton and his GrannySue


Miss Diva herself...Carrington!

Pax wanted that binky!

We had a rough night of sleep Friday and unfortunately Kel missed most of the festivities on Saturday.